This is a difficult book to review, both because it's considered a classic among those in the know, and because I'm not one of them! Nor do I have any experience of the kinds described by the author, A W Tozer, sometimes regarded as an evangelical Protestant mystic. Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897-1963) was an evangelical pastor who worked with congregations in both the United States and Canada. He also wrote extensively for the magazine of his denomination, and authored several books.
“The Pursuit of God” is Tozer's short introduction to the higher Christian life of the spirit. The author is critical of the worldly and non-spiritual state of the churches, with their emphasis on doctrine over experience, preoccupation with administration and organization, commercial tendencies, and/or empty ritualism. Tozer doesn't reject the inspiration of the Bible or the necessity of sound doctrine (his denomination, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, was theologically conservative), but he strongly emphasizes that the Bible, taken by itself, isn't “the” divine revelation, but rather one of its products, the revelation itself being God's living Voice or Word, which is forever active throughout creation. The most important tasks of Christian believers is to pursue this divine, living Voice.
Interestingly, Tozer quotes Catholic (pre-Reformation) mystics, such as Augustine, Nicholas of Cusa and the anonymous author of “The Cloud of Unknowing”. This strongly suggests that the author seeks a mystical experience of God's manifest presence. His mysticism is intensely “personal”, not impersonal, since God is a living, loving and willing person, with whom human persons can enter into intense communion. Apart from prayer and humbleness, Tozer says very little about how the beholding of God's presence should be accomplished, although he does emphasize that it can't come about without suffering, forsaking and “dying from the world”. The fall of man is a terrible reality which stands in the way of a right relation with God.
An interesting chapter discusses the meaning of faith. In Tozer's opinion, the Bible doesn't give us a fully-fledged philosophical answer to the question of what faith actually *is* in essence. Rather, it emphasizes how faith operates in the soul of the believer, and what its fruits are. Therefore, *these* are the important questions to tackle. Humans can only understand faith in experiential terms. Tozer's description of faith sounds very concrete – he seems to believe that it’s an actual spiritual force which enters the heart of man and makes it possible for him to constantly remember and adore God. “The gaze of the soul” is an important concept for Tozer. Less reverently, we could perhaps call this “seeing is believing”. The author emphasizes that God is real, speaking today, and that his creation is real, too (he attacks the babble of the subjective idealists at this point). Therefore, faith is also based on something real and tangible, the above-mentioned “gaze of the soul” upon God.
In several chapters, the author rebukes empty ritualism, both the Catholic variety and its intrusions into Protestantism. “Holy days” and holy places are absurd concepts, since everything is potentially holy. God can and should be worshipped even while the believer is working, eating or attending school. This comes from Luther or Calvin, of course. In Tozer's version, there seems to be a connection between this and the previously mentioned notion that faith is an actual spiritual force implanted into men's hearts. It's presumably this faith which makes it possible for the Christian to constantly offer silent homage to God.
“The Pursuit of God” is probably not a text one can simply “read” or “study”. It's rather a signpost to a wholly different kind of living. Hence, a recovering materialist like me found it difficult relating to – this is actually the third time I try to read it, and the first time I finished it! That being said, I will give A W Tozer's spiritual classic four stars.
I just happened upon this blog and am reminded of our pal Dan from the Amazon reviewer days. He recommended The Knowledge of the Holy by Tozer (recall those discussions?) which I actually did purchase and read. I commend your review here, especially the "signpost pointing to a different kind of living" point. Or *being in the world but not of it in the Gudjieffian sense.
ReplyDeleteTozer is very interesting, being the only evangelical mystic I´m aware of, but I never had time going back to him.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be the main point:
ReplyDelete"Humans can only understand faith in experiential terms. Tozer's description of faith sounds very concrete – he seems to believe that it’s an actual spiritual force which enters the heart of man and makes it possible for him to constantly remember and adore God. “The gaze of the soul” is an important concept for Tozer. Less reverently, we could perhaps call this “seeing is believing”. The author emphasizes that God is real, speaking today, and that his creation is real, too (he attacks the babble of the subjective idealists at this point). Therefore, faith is also based on something real and tangible, the above-mentioned “gaze of the soul” upon God."
Sounds like one of my early heroes, William James, in The Varieties of Religious Experience. That one book opened my eyes to what I was experiencing at the time, and reassured me I was not alone. I think some people are just born *attuned* to the Other and it does have consequences throughout one's lifespan.
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ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me of a Sufi story of sorts. A student comes to the Master and asks : "If I turn toward God, will he turn toward me?" "Well I don't know what God will do" said the Master "but if He turns towards you, You will turn towards him..."
DeleteI´m not "attuned", unfortunately! More of the intellectual type.
ReplyDeleteAh, well, look to emotions. And/or basic self sensation which today is called something like *Mindfulness* of course it's nothing new... but what if the transcendent Being has "feelings" that permeate all as well? You feel, It feels, somewhere the twain meet and Bingo, a chord is formed. Or perhaps vibrating in harmony would be more accurate. Something the West calls the *Holy Spirit...* But I am reminded of what a friend once told me, "words are levers to show their useful uselessness."
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